I will be using the trailer for TIONG BAHRU SOCIAL CLUB and the concept of supererogation

to talk about how society, particularly social media, pushes people to perform their lives instead
of live them.

● (1) The name of the philosopher you have chosen for your Philosophy Project.
This philosopher must align with the arguments/counterarguments you select.
○ I will select Plato for my project.

● (2) A rough outline of the argument and counter arguments you will be using for
your Philosophy Project. (this must include the names of the arguments and
basic premises/conclusions of each argument)
○ I want to use arguments from Plato’s critique of democracy such as:
■ The idea that people follow what others are doing regardless as to
whether they themselves think it's right.
■ Pandering and mass appeals grow to be seen as more valuable
than expertise, or artistry
○ I would also like to frame these arguments through the idea of a shift from
horizontal aspiration (social comparison of yourself and those in your
community) to vertical aspiration (Comparing yourself to everybody else
on social media on a scale from one like to Kim Kardashian)

● Checkpoint 3:
○ Define your theme/moral theory. For instance, if you are using Deontology,
you should define deontology.
■ I will be using Plato's critique of democracy, which states among
many other things, that people tend to act as a mob rather than use
their critical thinking, when presented with majority wins style
decision making. It also states that mass appeal becomes more
valued then practical or creative skill, when the only requirement for
success is popularity.
■ One of the most prominent themes of Plato's The Republic was the
idea that morality lies underneath the world we observe everyday,
and that true morality can only be achieved through reason, as
opposed to the distractions and dramatics of morality taught
through storytelling.
○ Give a rough outline of the following: who founded your theory, why was it
founded, and what is its historical background?
■ Plato's critique of democracy comes from his book Republic in
which he covers a variety of topics. It remains one of the earliest
and most influential works in western philosophy.
■ Plato wrote The Republic after founding his academy, he was
inspired to found his academy after his mentor, Socrates was put to
trial and executed by the democratic state of Athens. Plato founded
his school in order to educate future Greek leaders and wrote The
Republic in order to design in theory the perfect society. It would
 follow that the book is very critical of Athenien democracy given
Soctrates was killed for not worshiping Athenien gods, a claim that
Plato and other educated people could easily see as fraudulent.
○ Finally, give a rough outline of your chosen philosopher's
history/background.
■ Plato is a philosopher unfortunately defined by his mentor,
Socrates. Socrates was a menace of ancient Athens, questioning
anything and everything, encouraging education and critical
thinking. He also believed that an idea died as soon as it hit the
parchment so he never wrote anything. Plato did write, alot, and as
a student and admirer of Socratese he often used his likeness in
his written dialogues. In the beginning it's believed his portrayal of
Socratese is pretty historically accurate to the man himself,
however as time went on it becomes less clear to historians
whether Plato is representing socrates as he believed he would act,
or whether he was simply using Socrates as a mouthpiece for his
own ideas, either way it's important to mention that he does do the
latter in all of his works to a certain extent.
■ As for Plato himself, we don't know much about his early years or
birthplace, but we know he was descended from royalty, had a
preference for wearing jewelry, and, of course, he studied under
Socrates. He opened his Academy at 40, it stood for nearly 200
years. He himself however became entangled in politics at a later
age he attempted to involve himself in a coup, was sold into
slavery, freed, and eventually died by some fashion (there are
conflicting reports).